Ai Weiwei and the Chapman brothers donate artwork to Help Refugees

Artists including Ai Weiwei have donated work which will be auctioned online in support of humanitarian aid organisation Help Refugees.

The auction will include work by artists including Cecily Brown, Jake and Dinos Chapman. Jeremy Deller, Harland Miller, Julian Opie, Marc Quinn and Rankin. It will begin this Thursday 7 December at 12pm GMT on Paddle8, and will run for a two week duration.

Help Refugees’ auction has been timed to coincide with the launch of Human Flow, Ai Wei Wei’s new feature-length documentary. Filmed during one year across 23 countries, Human Flow follows human stories from refugee camps to borders and beyond. The film is due to open in cinemas on Friday 8 December.

Ai Weiwei commented: “As an artist, I always believe in humanity and I see this crisis as my crisis. I see those people coming down to the boats as my family. They could be my children, could be my parents, could be my brothers. As a human being, I believe any crisis or hardship that happens to another human being should be as if it is happening to us. I want to thank all the artists for their generosity and hope the funds raised can help many refugees this winter.”

Help Refugees CEO and co-founder Josie Naughton added: “We are so incredibly grateful to these artists for donating their beautiful work, and thrilled to be the official NGO partner for Human Flow. Two years on, the grassroots effort is still at the forefront of the response to the refugee crisis. Public and media attention has waned, but we are still watching children arrive by the thousands on European shores cold and sick, and now the harshest winter months are upon us when once again families will be sleeping in flimsy tents. The funds raised from this auction will help provide vital necessities for desperately vulnerable refugees – from winterised shelters to warm food and clothing, emergency medical care and much more. We implore collectors to choose love this winter by bidding generously.”